1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus and a method for cutting a package from a frame.
2. Description of the Related Art
If chip scale packages are produced in the semiconductor field, a molding process can be performed with respect to a frame including a plurality of packages. The molded frame is then cut into packages. Cutting equipment (e.g., sawing equipment) can be used for cutting a frame into a plurality of packages.
Conventional cutting equipment cuts packages from frames along straight lines only. Nevertheless, packages with diverse shapes can be cut along curved lines using a new package cutting equipment called a router. Routers generally cut packages slowly. Also, routers cannot perform cutting at a time using the same blade or a cutting bit as existing sawing equipment. In addition, one or more types of cutting bits must be replaced to cut along a straight-line to cut along a curved-line. Thus, productivity can be low when cutting packages from a frame using a conventional router.
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional router.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional router includes a spindle 30, a cutting bit 40, a bit loading jig 50, a frame loading jig 70, and a frame-and-unit picker 80. The spindle 30 is connected to a sawing robot 10 to perform a cutting process. The cutting bits 40 are installed at the spindle 30. The cutting bits 40 are loaded on the bit loading jig 50 to be subsequently coupled to the spindle 30. A frame 60 to be subjected to a cutting process is loaded on the frame loading jig 70. The frame-and-unit picker 80 is connected to an orthogonal robot 20 to load the frame 60 onto the frame loading jig 70 and unload packages that have been cut completely from the frame 60 (i.e., “completely cut” packages) from the frame loading jig 70.
The spindle 30 is connected to the sawing robot 10 through a connection part (not shown). The spindle moves up and down and rotates to the left and right to cut packages from the frame 60 on the frame loading jig 70.
The cutting bits 40 loaded on the bit loading jig 50 include chamfer bits 42 and router bits 44. The chamfer bits 42 are used to cut (hereinafter referred to as “chamfer-cut”) packages within the frame 60 along a straight line so that a section of the package is chamfered. The router bits 44 are used to cut (hereinafter referred to as “router-cut”) packages within the frame 60 along a curved line so that a router-cutting section of the package outside the chamfer-cutting section is cut. When the cutting bits 40 are installed at the spindle 30, sensors 90, i.e., bit check sensors 92 and bit height check sensors 94, are used to check whether the cutting bits 40 have been installed properly.
The frame-and-unit picker 80 unloads completely cut packages from the frame loading jig 70 and moves the completely cut packages to a package cleaner 95. Also, the frame-and-unit picker 80 moves remaining pieces of the frame other than the completely cut packages to a scrap box 98.
Constructed as described above, the router has a very slow cutting speed. Also, the chamfer bits 42 and router bits 44 must be switched into and out of the spindle 30 to perform the chamfer-cutting and router-cutting processes. Such alternate replacement of cutting bits can further lower productivity. In addition, a lifespan of the cutting bits, i.e., a time required for wearing down and replacing the cutting bits, is relatively short. Thus, productivity is further lowered due to the need to replace worn cutting bits.
FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating a cutting line of a package.
Referring to FIG. 2, chamfer bits perform a chamfer-cut on a chamfer-cutting line A1 and router bits perform a router-cut on a router-cutting line A2. Thus, if a package 60-1 is cut using the conventional router described above, the chamfer-cutting line A1 is chamfer-cut using a chamfer bit, the chamfer bit is replaced with a router bit, and the chamfer-cut package is then router-cut along the router-cutting line A2 using the router-bit.
When portion A3 of the router-cutting line A2 is router-cut using a router bit, then the portion A3 is router-cut to have a predetermined curvature according to a diameter of the router bit. As the diameter of the router bit decreases, the curvature of portion A3 is desirably reduced. However, as the diameter of the router bit decreases, the overall speed with which the package 60-1 is router-cut undesirably decreases. As a result, router bits of varying sizes are generally replaced with one another during cutting along the router-cutting line A2. Thus, productivity of a cutting process using the conventional router can be lowered even further.
FIG. 3A is a view illustrating checking of a height of a conventional cutting bit using a sensor.
Referring to FIG. 3A, a conventional router checks a state of a cutting bit 40 installed at a spindle 30 using a sensor 90. In particular, the sensor 90 is provided as a bit height check sensor 90 to check a height of the cutting bit 40. However, when the spindle 30 rotates at a high speed, a part of the spindle 30 in which the cutting bit 40 is installed is often sensed instead. Moreover, the rotating spindle 30 acts to diffuse the reflected light back to the sensor 90. Thus, it can be difficult to measure an exact height of the cutting bit 40 due to the diffused reflection of light.
Checking the height of a cutting bit can be particularly important when a chamfer bit is performing a chamfer-cutting operation. The conventional router uses the sensor and thus is difficult to measure an exact height. Thus, an error frequently occurs in a cutting process.
FIG. 3B is a view illustrating a shape of a combined part of a cutting bit sensed by the sensor illustrated in FIG. 3A. Referring to FIG. 3B, it is difficult to exactly sense a part of a spindle in which the cutting bit is installed due to a diffused reflection of light, etc.
As described above, a conventional router has a slow cutting speed. Also, cutting bits must be frequently replaced. As a result, productivity can be low. In addition, sensors are typically used to check heights of the cutting bits. Thus, it is difficult to exact heights of chamfer bits. As a result, errors occur in a chamfer-cutting process. Moreover, conventional routers often fix a frame through a vacuum adsorption to perform a cutting process. Errors usually occur in the cutting process due to a poor vacuum adsorption.